Flexible rubber grommets have been used to provide water-tight seals around electrical connectors that extend from one panel to another in a vehicle, such as from a door panel to a body panel. Usually the grommet includes a first sealing end which has sealing lips that are inserted into an aperture in a first panel. A grommet conduit portion extends from the first sealing end and terminates with a second sealing end. A first connector piece is received inside of a housing of the second sealing end and a wire harness extends through the conduit portion and through the aperture in the first panel. A second connector piece is provided and includes a wire harness extending through an aperture in a second panel. The first and second connector pieces are mated together and the second sealing end of the grommet includes sealing lips that are inserted manually into the aperture in the second panel to provide a water-tight seal surrounding the two connector pieces. This method of assembling a connector piece is labor intensive and, due to space constraints, is often extremely difficult for the assembler to manually insert the second sealing end of the grommet into the aperture of the second panel.
The use of slide levers to mechanically assist the connection of mating connector pieces has been known. FIG. 6 illustrates such a known system including a first connector 210 having a body portion 212 with a plurality of metal terminals received therein and a surrounding housing 214. A slide lever is provided for slidable movement in a channel provided between the body portion and the outer housing. The slide lever includes a plunger portion 216 connected to a bridge 218 and two spaced apart parallel elongated lever arms 220. The lever arms 220 each include a slot formed therein generally in a diagonal direction with respect to the longitudinal axis of elongated lever arms. The system is shipped in an open pre-staged position utilizing a separate wedge piece 222 that is snapped onto the lever arms 220 and between the bridge 218 and the housing 214 or body portion 212 to prevent downward movement of the lever. The second mating connector housing (not shown) includes an outwardly extending pin that is received in the channel formed in the lever arms. For assembly of the two connector pieces, the second connector housing is placed in engagement with the housing 214 of the first connector and the wedge 222 is removed by an operator and the plunger 216 depressed causing the two connector pieces to be mated together as the pin rides along the diagonal slot of the lever arms 220. However, the separate wedge piece 222 can become dislodged during shipment causing the slide lever to be moved to a closed position. Further, the mating connector housing cannot be disconnected and the slide lever moved back to a pre-staged position without the use of the wedge piece 222 which may not be available in the field.
The present invention provides alternatives to and advantages over the prior art.